Derrick Mason
FameRank: 5

"Derrick James Mason" is a former American football wide receiver who played for fifteen seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tennessee Oilers in the fourth round of the 1997 NFL Draft after playing college football for the Michigan State Spartans football/Michigan State Spartans. Following eight seasons with the Oilers (later called the Titans), including two Pro Bowl selections (2001 Pro Bowl/2000 and 2004 Pro Bowl/2003), Mason signed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2005. He became the Ravens' all-time leading receiver with 5,777 yards from 2005 to 2010, but he was released before the 2011 season. He spent 2011 on the New York Jets and Houston Texans rosters with little success. Mason decided to retire a Baltimore Raven on June 11, 2012.

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We can't keep making mistakes, we can't keep playing like this. It's demoralizing to lose, even worse to have your starting quarterback get hurt. That's depressing in itself. We're going to stick together, and get better.

'How many guys were here for the Super Bowl year?' Probably five guys raised their hands.

A lot of us feared they would be just a bunch of individuals. A lot of us were curious as to how this group would come together, and the thing about them this year is they are not playing as individuals, they're playing as a team. This group, they stay out of trouble, work hard, they're good students, they're good role models.

This is a new offense for all of us. Just as I'm learning, Kyle's learning. Everybody is learning on the run. You just have to be patient. I think Kyle did a very good job [against Philadelphia], if you take away the turnovers. . . . He's not doing things on purpose, he's trying to make plays. In the midst of trying to make plays, things happen.

And the way they approach it, in this very refined but scary manner, I think is what sets them apart.

There's nothing more demoralizing than losing, and then you lose your starting quarterback. I think that just added to the fire, even though Anthony [Wright, Boller's backup] came in and did a good job.

That was my main thing coming here, to be with a young team, a team that has the potential to win a Super Bowl now. Not next year, not two years from now, but now, ... And not to have to play this defense one or two times a year and possibly have to face them in the playoffs.

The good thing about it is we've practiced with Anthony. He got an opportunity to play in the second half. It's not like we're in Week 9 or 10 and all of a sudden you throw him in there.

He just needs to calm down a little bit. He wants to make a play so bad sometimes. A couple of times, he got pressured and tried to get the ball out quickly. But with guys on your back, it's hard to do that. He needs to stay composed like the player he is.

With a healthy Steve, your chances of winning go up dramatically. Knowing Steve and what kind of competitor he is, he's going to do all he can to put them in position to win.

We're constantly making sure every bridge in the state is structurally sound. It's one of our priorities.

Because we have so many bridges in this state, most times the need for repairs is greater than the means we have to do it. Every year, we update the condition of each bridge to make sure the money is there for repairs.

Either way, the lyrics are very effective in creating sort of this strange gothic atmosphere, where there's this sort of unsettling feeling or feeling of grim portent or whatever you want to call it.

Just because a bridge has structural deficiencies doesn't mean it's unsafe. It merely means it's deteriorating.

I'm just going to continue what I've been doing for the last eight or nine years, ... That's just to be consistent. They know what they're getting from me, each and every day.